The present invention relates to bottles, receptacles, and container structures. Specifically, the present invention relates to a flip top closure assembly for a liquid container for a comestible product such as milk, juice, flavored water, etc. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention is also amenable to other like applications.
Many consumer products are packaged in containers with flip-top dispensing closures. Typically, flip top closures have round orifices with round plugs that seal the orifice when the top is closed and may have pour spouts that are also round and encircle the round orifice. The sale of such products in containers having flip top closures has enhanced the consumers experience in the use of many consumer products, thus helping to increase their popularity. However, such conventional flip top closures can be messy to use and do not pour well.
A precise cutoff during the pour is desired so that there is no leakage or dripping. In conventional bottles, the edge of the pour spout is not well defined, e.g., a rounded opening that relies on the direction of pouring to determine what portion of the rounded opening receives the fluid. Although this may provide some flexibility for the user, it does not provide an effective pour lip.
Moreover, known caps position or locate the edge of the pour lip within the confines of the side wall of the bottle. Thus, if the fluid is not abruptly cut off when the pour is terminated, the shape of the bottle promotes the dripping of the fluid down the side wall of the bottle. This, of course, is not desirable.
In addition to the convenience of the flip top arrangement, the bottle manufacturer desires the convenience of a threaded cap, as well as a foil seal for purposes of contamination protection. These three competing concerns lead to different, divergent design traits that are difficult to incorporate into an integrated design.
As part of a caseless shipping system, the cap preferably provides a large planar area or upper surface in order to facilitate the transfer of vertical loads or forces through a stacked array. Particularly, it is important to transfer forces from an adjacent upper layer or row of bottles to an upper surface of a bottle, vertically through the sidewall of the bottle, to the lower surface of the bottle where the forces are then transferred in the same manner to the next adjacent lower layer or row of bottles. A commercially successful version of the caseless shipping arrangement as used in the dairy industry is shown and described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,247,507 and 6,068,161 the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
It is desired to improve the pouring capabilities of the cap. Adequate air flow is desired to prevent “glugging” of the fluid as the fluid is poured from the bottle. This promotes laminar flow as the fluid is poured from the bottle.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved flip top closure assembly which overcomes certain difficulties with the conventional designs while providing better and more advantageous overall results.